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Replies
SIR BALTHAZAR GERBIER
(Vol. ii., p. 375.)
Your correspondent J. Mt. has great reason to congratulate himself on the possession of the singularly curious tract which he describes, and which gives an autobiography of this extraordinary adventurer. I am not aware of any other copy in any public or private collection. I have a 4to. tract in nineteen pages, evidently printed abroad, the title of which is—
"Balthazar Gerbier, Knight,
to
All Men that love Truth."
This gives a very interesting life of him by himself, perfectly distinct from, and containing many particulars not given in the tract possessed by your correspondent, which also contains matter not in the above. I have likewise another tract, privately printed in Holland in English, French, and Dutch, in fifteen pages 12mo., the English title to which is—
"A true Manifest,
By Sr B. Gerbier
Anno
1653."
In this, which gives some curious particulars as to "Mr. Hughe Peeters," and the book entitled The Nonsuch Charles, he refers to another "little manifest" published on the 2nd day of October, 1652, "that the world might take notice that he was not at all invested with any foreigne engagement." Of the tract so referred to, I regret to say no copy is known. None of the other three tracts appear to have been seen by Horace Walpole, who had collected a great number of Gerbier's pamphlets, and also the MS. next mentioned, which, at the Strawberry Hill sale, came together into my possession. The MS. contains the original appointments of Sir Balthazar to the offices he held while in England, a pedigree of his family beautifully emblazoned, and a large quantity of MS., prose and poetry, in his autograph; including a most extensive collection of projects and proposals, which seem to have been equally at the service of England or France. The best account we have of Gerbier is that which Horace Walpole has supplied in the Anecdotes of Painting (see Works, vol. iii. p. 189.); but his diplomatic negotiations, and his career as an artist and adventurer, never forgetting his academy at Whitefriars and Bethnal Green, would furnish matter for a very amusing volume. The general biography, however, to which he would be most appropriately remitted, and which is still a desideratum in literature, is that which is proposed by Dr. Johnson, in Chalmers's admirable parody:
"I think a good book might be made of scoundrels. I would have a Biographia Flagitiosa, the Lives of Eminent Scoundrels from the earliest accounts to the present day."
Jas. Crossley.
THE TRAVELS OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN
(Vol. ii., p. 519.; Vol. iii., p. 117.)
Is not your correspondent J. Me. in error when he says the original travels of the Baron were written to ridicule Bruce? I think this will only apply to the second volume, or "Sequel," seeing that there exists an edition of Gulliver Revived, printed at Oxford, 1786, four years before Bruce published. J. Me. further remarks, that there was at one time reason to believe that James Graham was the author of the well-known book in question, but that circumstances have come to his knowledge altogether precluding the possibility that the author of The Sabbath and The Travels of Baron Munchausen are identical.
To me it appears there were two of these James Grahams, and that from their being contemporaries, they are usually rolled into one. I have in my library a volume containing Wallace, a Tragedy, Edinburgh, 1799; and Mary Stewart, Queen of Scots, an Historical Drama, Edinburgh, 1801, which appears to have belonged to Mr. George Chalmers, upon the titles of which that gentleman has written, "by James Graham, Advocate, Edinburgh, son of T. Graham, a writer of reputation in Glasgow."
From this one would think Mr. Chalmers had the author of The Sabbath in his eye: a conclusion, however, difficult to come to in the face of a critique which thus characterises the tragedy of Wallace:
"The play is not uninteresting, and the author has exhibited occasional proofs of poetical genius; but there are some passages in the piece that fall little short of blasphemy:"
—a charge which, of course, could never apply to this "lovable" and subsequently reverend author of The Sabbath, a poem breathing the humblest piety, and published only five years after Wallace; consequently here is, in the author of the tragedy of Wallace, another James Graham at the service of J. Me., to whom, if his other proofs are strong, the Baron may be assigned with more probability.
I may add, taking it for granted that Chalmers was right in claiming these two plays for a James Graham, that there is the strongest corroborative proof of there being two of the name in the existence of Mary Stewart, a Dramatic Poem, the acknowledged performance of the author of The Sabbath (see his Poems, 2 vols. 1809), a production differing in title, and bearing no resemblance, I should think, to the first named.
While upon the subject, and presuming that the tragedy of Wallace is known to J. Me., I may take the opportunity to ask him, as he is ayont the Tweed, whether there is really any authority for the assertion contained in the Abbotsford Library Catalogue, and also in that of Constable's Library, sold in 1817, that of this anonymous tragedy of Wallace there were only six copies printed? Upon the face of mine there is nothing to indicate its rarity, it being an octavo, printed for A. Constable; but the remarkable book may be some other: your correspondents will, however, I dare say, be able to enlighten me.
A Collector.
Baron Munchausen (Vol. ii., p. 519.).—As it was nearly thirty years since I had seen the Percy Anecdotes, I was obliged to speak doubtfully of having derived from that work the statements that the author of Munchausen was a Mr. "M–," and that he was a prisoner in France. Accident has within the last few days thrown in my way the very volume of the Anecdotes in which this is stated (vol. v., Anecdotes of Captivity, p. 103.); and I find that I was mistaken only in supposing "M–'s" place of confinement to have been the Bastile, whereas the time is said to have been the Reign of Terror, and therefore of course the Bastile cannot have been the place.
J. C. R.
Replies to Minor Queries
Tobacco in the East (vol. ii., pp. 155. 231.).—M. D. asks for "chapter and verse" of A. C. M.'s reference to Sale's Koran respecting tobacco.
Had A. C. M. recollected that tobacco (Nicotiana) is an American plant, he would hardly have asked whether "tobacco is the word in the original" of the tradition mentioned by Sale in his Preliminary Discourse, § 5. p. 123. (4to. ed. 1734.) Happily Reland, whom Sale quotes (Dissert. Miscell., vol. ii. p. 280.), gives his authority, the learned orientalist, Dr. Sike, who received the Hadéth at Leghorn from Ibn Sáleh, a young Muselman. It says, in good Arabic, that in the latter days Moslims, undeserving of the name, shall drink hashish (hemp), and call it tabák; the last words, "yukál lehn tabáku," are no doubt a modern addition by those who had heard of tambákó (the Romaic τανπάκον). As the use of hashish or hashishah (the herb), more completely hashishata fukara, i.e. Monk's Wort, a technical term for hemp, chewed as a narcotic by fakirs (monks), was not known till A.H. 608 (A.D. 1211), it could not be mentioned in the Koran unless Mohammed were, as Sale observes, "a prophet indeed." Tabakak, a plate, dish, or shelf, is now sometimes used by ignorant persons in the East for tambákó, of which a complete account is given in the Karábádén, or great treatise of Materia Medica in Persian. Of that work, there is a beautifully written copy, made, probably, for the late Mr. Colebrooke, by whom it was presented to the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. I shall conclude by another Query: What is the Greek word transformed by Asiatic scribes into Karábádén?
Anatolicus.
Captain John Stevens (Vol. ii., p. 359.).—This ingenious man, as to whom your correspondent inquires, was one of the hard-working translators in the early part of the last century. The materials for his biography are very scanty. He was a Roman Catholic, and at the Revolution followed the fortunes of his abdicating master, in whose service he accepted a commission, and accompanied him in the wars in Ireland. He was also employed in several other services, and died October 27, 1726. See Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. p. 691., edit. 1812. He is not noticed in Chalmers's Biographical Dictionary, though as the continuator of Dugdale's Monasticon he unquestionably ought to have been. Watt gives a list (Bib. Brit., vol. i. p. 880.) of his books and translations; but it is, as usual, very defective and erroneous. It does not include his translation of Don Quixote, of Dupin, of An Evening's Intrigue (1707, 8vo.), and a great number of other works; and it ascribes to him the History of the Wars of Charles XII., King of Sweden, London, 1715, which was written, as it needs no great sagacity to discover, by Daniel Defoe, though Chalmers and Wilson have not noticed it.
James Crossley.
MS. Catalogue of Norman Nobility (Vol. iii., p. 266.).—The MS. Catalogue of Norman Nobility referred to in No. 75., a document of great value, is or was in the possession of Sir William Betham, having been purchased by him about six years ago, from Mr. Boone, of New Bond Street.
Your correspondent will find that Odardus de Loges was infeoffed by Earl Ranulph the 1st in the barony of Wigton in Cumberland, in which he was confirmed by Henry I. Bigod, whose name was attached to the charter of foundation of St. Werburg's Abbey, is elsewhere, according to Ormerod, called Robert.
M. J. T.
Illustrations of Chaucer, No. III. (Vol. iii., p. 258.).—
Φως.
Comets (Vol. iii., pp. 223. 253.).—If your correspondent S. P. O. R. wish to go fully into the history of comets, and be not alarmed at the prospect of three thick folios, through which I have gone, I can assure him, with considerable interest, let me recommend to him Theatrum Cometicum, Auctore Stanislao Lubienietz Lubieniecio Rolitsio, Amst., in 2 vols. (but generally bound in three) folio. The first contains an immense correspondence, not merely with astronomers, but with poets, critics, physicians, and philosophers, to whom the indefatigable editor wrote for their opinions on the subject of comets. The second vol. gives a history of comets from the Deluge to 1665, and is a repository of everything bearing upon the subject. From this work Bayle derived his learning, when he wrote his most amusing work on comets.
James Crossley.
Pope Joan (Vol. iii., p. 265.).—Nemo will find much information on the question, "Whether Pope Joan ever held the keys of St. Peter?" in Alexander Cooke's Dialogue between a Protestant and a Papist; manifestly proving that a Woman called Joane was Pope of Rome: against the surmises and objections made to the contrary by Robert Bellarmini and Cæsar Baronius, Cardinals, Florimondus Ræmondus, and other Popish Writers, impudently denying the same, 4to, pp. 128, 1610. The work was dedicated to the Archbishop of York, and was reprinted in 1625 in 4to., and in French, 1633, 8vo. The author, in his address To the Popish Reader, says:
"I offer unto thee here a discourse touching Pope Joane (if thou darest read it, for fear of falling into thy Pope's curse), whose Popedome I will make good unto thee, not by the testimonies of Pantaleon, and Functius, and Sleidan, and Illyricus, and Constantinus Phrygio, and John Bale, and Robert Barnes, because thou hast condemned their persons, and their books too, to hell; but by the testimonies of thy brethren, the sonnes of thine own mother; because, as one saith, 'Amici contra amicum, et inimici pro inimico, invincibile testimonium est.'"
E. C. Harington.
The Close, Exeter.
Abbot Eustacius (Vol. iii., p. 141.).—As J. L.'s inquiry after an abbot of that name has hitherto been unsuccessful, perhaps he would like to know that Eustacia was abbess of the monastery at Shaftesbury (founded by King Alfred), tempore incerto, but probably in the time of Stephen. See Willis's History of Abbeys, and a History of the Ancient Town of Shaftesbury, p. 21.
Blowen.
The Vellum-bound Junius (Vol. iii., p. 262.).—In the Minor Queries of your Number 75., you have kindly inserted my notice on the vellum-bound Junius. I beg to state further, that the reason of my being so desirous to procure this copy at the Stowe sale was, that it was not only bound in vellum, but was also printed on that article. If any of your correspondents can inform me of another copy printed on vellum, I should be glad.
W. D. Haggard.
Bank of England, April 5, 1851.
Meaning of Waste-Book (Vol. iii., pp. 118. 195. 251.).—Among a list of "the books printed for, and are to be sold by John Hancock, at the sign of the Three Bibles in Pope's-head Alley, in Cornhill," I find The Absolute Accountant, or London Merchant, containing instructions and directions for the methodical keeping of merchant's accounts, after the most exact and concise way of debtor and creditor; also a Memorial, vulgarly called a waste-book, and a cash-book, with a journal and a ledger, &c., 1670. This is the first reference I have seen to the correct designation of the book, which might have received it vulgar name of waste from wast, the second person of was—thus the Memorial or the Wast-book.
Blowen.
Cowdray (Vol. iii., p. 194.).—There is a misprint here of Eastbourne for Easebourne. There is a curious note on Cowdray, and the superstition attached to it, in Croker's Boswell, p. 711. 8vo. edit.
C.
Solemnisation of Matrimony (Vol. ii., p. 464.).—A. A. will find, from Blackstone's Commentaries, vol. ii. p. 135., that in feudal times a husband had the power of protecting his lands from the wife's claim to dower, by endowing her, ad ostium Ecclesiæ, with specific estates to the exclusion of others; or, if he had no lands at the time of the marriage, by an endowment in goods, chattels, or money. When special endowments were thus made, the husband, after affiance made and troth plighted, used to declare with what specific lands he meant to endow his wife ("quod dotat eam de tali manerio," &c.); and therefore, in the old York ritual (Seld. Ux. Hebr. l. ii. c. 27.) there is at this part of the matrimonial service the following rubric—"Sacerdos interroget dotem mulieris; et si terra ei in dotem detur, tunc dicatur psalmus iste", &c. When the wife was endowed generally, the husband seems to have said "with all my lands and tenements I thee endow," and then they all became liable to her dower. When he endowed her with personalty only, he used to say, "with all my worldly goods (or, as the Salisbury ritual has it, "with all my worldly chattels") I thee endow," which entitled the wife to her thirds, or pars rationabilis, of his personal estate, which is provided for by Magna Charta, cap. 26. The meaning, therefore, of the words noticed in A. A.'s Query, if they can be said to have any meaning in the present state of the law, is simply that the wife's dower is to be general, and not specific, or, in other words, that she is to have her pars rationabilis in all her husband's goods.
